Effortless Everywhere: Rolls-Royce CULLINAN China Roadshow

Rolls-Royce evokes an iconography of imperiousness, chauffeur-driven masterpieces gliding silently over immaculately paved concrete streets. But as its audience is getting younger and bolder, and probably aspire at living the driving experience to the fullest, the British brand has recently unveiled the Cullinan, its very first and highly anticipated SUV.

After the launch in the prestigious Chinese region, a series of installations were created by Japanese artist Kaz Shirane, to present the car in selected public spaces and showrooms.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan sets the bar for a new concept of effortless driving dedicated to outgoing people living a many-faceted life, and also takes its name from the biggest diamond ever found: this is why the gem and its reflective qualities were the creative starting point for the installations.

We proposed to Rolls-Royce Kaz Shirane, a Tokyo-based artist from the Machas’ Artist Network whose visual language was attuned to this sensibility, and who would excel with the project. The brand saw in him the perfect vision to complement the Cullinan; his reflective, geometric surfaces, either projected towards the viewer to decorate walls or creating self-enclosed spaces to create an ever-ending process of redefining perception.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan, conceived to domain its terrain both on cityscapes and off-road with grace and authority, is the trait d’union for two seemingly opposed lifestyles and Kaz designs aimed at spatially representing the dynamic tension of the object and its surrounding.

The project, offering two multidimensional experiences that explore the relationship between the viewer and space, consisted of two different installations: one dedicated to the Roll-Royce showrooms and one for public display, each one with specific design requirements. The former needed to embrace a modular design to adapt to the different setup locations, while the public space installation was going to be a show-stopper experience.

For Rolls-Royce, Kaz pushed himself even further, as the modular approach to his installations was new territory, and worked together with the brand to develop this new design. With Machas supporting and assisting the artist in every aspect of the creative production, he created the showroom installation with a triangular module that provided full adaptability to each location, while for the public space installation he took in Rolls-Royce inspiration and designed a treasure trove of endless imagination.

Effortless Everywhere installations are both now showing in Xiamen. The two installations will be showcased in different locations across China until the end of the year.